SRINAGAR: At least nine people were killed and more than 23 others injured as gunmen attacked a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims in Indian Illegally Occupied Kashmir, which then tumbled into a ravine, police said Sunday.
“Initial reports suggest that militants were waiting there in an ambush and they fired on the bus,” police officer Mohita Sharma told AFP. “The driver lost control and fell into the deep gorge. Nine people died and 23 were injured.”
The attack came around an hour before Hindu-nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi was sworn in for a third term on Sunday evening in the capital New Delhi.
The crash happened near Reasi town, in the south of the disputed territory, as the bus was returning from a popular Hindu shrine in the area.
Opposition Congress party president Mallikarjun Kharge condemned the “gruesome terror attack” in a post on social media platform X.
Modi’s “chest-thumping propaganda of bringing peace and normalcy… rings hollow”, he said.
Security forces violence and Kashmiri people anti-India protests have become a routine since 2019, when Modi’s government cancelled the region’s autonomy.
Five freedom fighters and an Indian air force corporal were killed in clashes since election campaigning began in the territory in April until voting ended this month.
